Tuesday, October 02, 2007

No Head for Figures

You would think, would you not, that a man who grew up watching "Sesame Street" and graduated from Harvard would able to count to three?

Usually I can. Here, I'll demonstrate.

Three Abigails.

Three pieces of chocolate.

Three...men in ties.

Alas, my obvious facility with higher mathematics deserted me when I began the first sleeve on Abigail's Tomten Jacket. Carefully noting Elizabeth's instructions to decrease two stitches every third ridge, I sped off and before I knew it came to the cuff.

And then I realized I had in fact been decreasing every second ridge. The sleeve would have fit Abby perfectly if she had the shoulders of a parakeet and the arms of a Smurf.

On the second try, with the aid of a notebook and row counter, I got it right.

And I'm quite pleased with the pseudo-Egyptian stylized thingies I put just above the cuff. It's a lotus, maybe. Or a stalk of blooming papyrus. Or Ftatateeta beseeching Osiris to send down a bowl of ice cream. Something of that sort.

Men of Color

So listen, who else is going to the Kaffe Fassett/Brandon Mably double-header this weekend? I'll definitely be at Brandon's Saturday workshop (I can't make it on Sunday, or I'd go then, too) and I'll be at Kaffe's talk in the evening. They're both appearing on the north side courtesy of Arcadia Knitting.

I talked to Kathy and apparently there are still some seats left for both. There's more information on their Web site. Kathy says there will copies available of Kaffe's new book and he'll be doing a signing.

There truly aren't many people I'd line up for, Kaffe's one of them. An original, and an inspiration. Of course, since I consider the blue I've added to Abigail's oatmeal-colored Tomten to be a Riot of Color, you might not know it. Maybe after this weekend things will be a little different.

50 comments:

Here's the great thing about knitting for babies/kids. Even if you still feel like you don't want to wear bright clothing, babies are fair game. And they use much less wool. So a bit of Kaffe colour for Abigail...

I'll be there on Saturday for the workshop, should probably sign up for the lecture too... though I suspect that Kaffe is less hilarious and power-of-knitting than Ms. Pearl-McPhee. Do you think that he'd sign the ball band of my Regia Kaffe Fasset sock yarn?

since I too, cannot be counted on to count correctly, nor can I reliably remember to click a counter or any of that, I came up with the knotted yarn method. I take a length of contrasting color yarn, double it, and tie knots the size of the needle in it. Row 1 is the "eye" end. Each time I knit a row, I move the needle down a knothole as I pass it. sometimes I use one on each end, or next to pattern chunks, such as cables, etc. It's great!

I'd love to go this weekend. According to Google maps it will take me a mere 15 and a half hours to get there, I think I'll pass this time. Tho my middle son keeps telling me we need to go visit Chicago.

Franklin, note the three Tulip sweaters on the three Abigails, then tell us again how you don't do color.

The blue on oatmeal is a beautiful and classic combination. I'm sure Abigail will look adorable in it. Actually, Abigail probably looks adorable in anything, but that's beside the point.

If Brandon's doing the same workshop he did 6 years ago, and it looks like he might be, bring pictures of any paintings you find particularly compelling for their use of color. Impressionists are best. He brings many but I remember wishing I'd brought a couple of my own.

Abigail's darling. And thank you for burnishing the patina of your pedestal by letting me know that your counting/knitting sometimes goes astray (Although I think EZ's patterns are tricky to read sometimes.) Oh, and I'd probably stand in line for KF, too.

Counting to three can be difficult, as every knitter knows. And counting rows, well... I never remember to roll on one of those counters that sits on the needle or to draw five-bar gates. So when I have to do something every 3rd row, or 5th row or whatever, I use a length of yarn with knots tied in it, and move it up at every row. I tend to use a pleasingly contrasting yarn, but you don't need to be so pretentious. At least, not unless you want to.

Get over that fear of color, buster. Go out and buy a ball of every lovely (blue, red, choose a color) you can find - hint: check the sale bins - and make yourself a swatch with all of them, using one of Kaffe's many design patterns. Or your own design, for that matter.

As you go along, you'll see when a particular yarn doesn't work. Clearly, you have an eye for good design, so trust it. An example: let's say all your yarns are heathery coppers and mustardy ochres, except that one really, really nice merino/silk screaming pure fire-engine red that was on sale for $2 for 325 yards and you couldn't resist it. When you knit it into the swatch, it will scream at you, all right. Rip it out, toss the ball to Dolores (it's her style and then she'll owe you one; not that she ever pays you back, but whatever), take a walk around the block to clear your head of the screaming match, and get back on the horse that threw you - knit another row with the really, really nice merino/silk burnished copper that also was on sale at $2 for 325 yards. Get the picture?

It's easy. Stop being so well-behaved and have some fun, for once, dear.

Me? Bossy? Really? That's odd; you're not the first one to tell me that.

Damn you're talented. Of course, I have no head for math either, having cast on the wrong number of stitches for my sleeves, and now having to totally cast them aside, re-cast on, and knit like a madwoman, all in order to get the sleeves -- nay, the entire bloody sweater -- done for Rhinebeck.

Unfortunately, Sesame Street never had a "knitting math" episode! Wouldn't that be great...reruns of an episode with Elizabeth Zimmerman explaining the percentage system to Cookie Monster!?!Abigail is adorable!

Harvard knitters, unite! Don't feel bad, I can't make change. I once handed a random fistful of money out of a drivethrough window because the guy in the car gave me a $20 bill and a penny, and all I knew was that he wanted a nickel. :)

It's not three men, Franklin, it's two men and a flatulence for brains talking chimpanzee who does not come close to the other two for charisma, intelligence and humanity (I will admit here to heartily disliking The Three Stooges).

I did the same thing on a shawl pattern recently (increasing every second instead of every third row actually) and I got around it by tying a little brightly coloured yarn on one of the needle ends. I knew to decrease whenever I was knitting onto the marked needle.

Hey, I have problems counting the ridges in garter stitch. Like this is difficult? No. But I screw it up with terrifying ease. I'm thinking you're way ahead of me with having proof you can at least count to two, despite possibly having problems with three. ;)

I also love to look at Kaffe Fassett's designs, but I don't know if I would ever wear one. I just got a copy of... one of his books from the eighties... and I've been loving going through it and just soaking up all of the information and color.

Conan says, "Never tell anyone in a roadside diner that you went to Harvard. In most situations the correct response to where did you to school is, "School? Why, I never had much in the way of book larnin' and such."

I went to see Kaffe (and Brandon, but mostly Kaffe) when he came to Adealide. (Seriously? No one comes to Adelaide. I was so excited)

I am extremly conservative when it comes to colour, but that didn't matter. His talk was so inspiring, the colour combinations mindblowing. I mean, I know that everyone knows this, it's his thing, right? But there was just nothing like having him go through projects and talk to us about them, it was just incredible.

I know everyone else in the audience felt the same, because the 'oohs' and 'aaahs' got louder with each slide. I wish I could have made it to one of the workshops. Next time.

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